Class 
Book 








43J2& 



CopyrightN . 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT 



I LIBRARY of CONGRESS 
Two Cooies Received 
JLIN 7 1906 
Copyright Entry 




Copyright 19C6 
By W. D. Cotton 



TO 

the memory of 
The Men of the Ohio Company 

who 

— Were born under a monarchy, 

Fought the battle of Independence, 

Assisted in the baptism of a great republic, 

Then moved into a wilderness, 

And laid the foundations of a state, 

Itself almost equaling an empire," 

THIS SKETCH IS REVERENTLY 
DEDICATED. 




HERE is no spot west of the Alle- 
ghanies of more historic interest 
than the old Mound Cemetery of 
Marietta, for in it are buried many of the 
Pioneers of the Great Northwest. Sturdy 
and true were the men who bade "Good- 
bye" to the old Bay State, and wended their 
way westward to establish a new home in 
the wilderness. Under the leadership of 
Rufus Putnam they followed the Indian trail 
over the mountains, and in a large boat, 
called the "Adventure Galley," floated down 
the Ohio to the mouth of the Muskingum. 
Here they landed on the 7th of April, 1788, 
and laid out a little city, which they named 
Marietta in honor of the Queen of France, 
Marie Antoinette. 

Too much praise cannot be given to that 

little band which thus laid the foundations 
5 



of the great state of Ohio. It was composed 
of remarkable men. ''Energetic, industrious, 
persevering, honest, bold and free, — they 
were limited in their achievements only by 
the limits of possibility." Many of them were 
officers of the Revolution, At the end of 
that long struggle, finding themselves almost 
penniless and with occupations gone, they 
hailed with delight the idea of founding a 
colony in the far away country on the Ohio. 
They had often heard of its beauty and rich- 
ness from their old commander, George 
Washington, who had directed their attention 
to the West as a land where they might take 
refuge, should they be worsted in the strug- 
gle for independence. 

No one knew better than Washington the 
possibilities of the country west of the Alle- 
ghanies. His opportunity for studying the 
problems and hardships of frontier life began 
with his service in the old French War, when 
at the age of twenty-two he fought his first 
battle on the head- waters of the Ohio. Some 
years later, in 1770, with a doctor as a com- 
panion and two Indians for guides, he made 



a perilous expedition in a canoe down that 
then almost unknown river as far as the Ka- 
nawha, and at the close of the Revolution 
owned large tracts of land in its fertile val- 
leys. He was much interested in the Ohio 
Company's settlement at Marietta, and wrote: 
"No colony in America was ever settled un- 
der such favorable auspices as that which 
has just commenced at Muskingum. Infor- 
mation, property and strength will be its 
characteristics. I know many of the settlers 
personally and there never were men better 
calculated to promote the welfare of such a 
community." 

The place selected for the little town con- 
tained some of those remarkable earthworks 
whose origin is shrouded in mystery. The 
Indians could give no information concerning 
the mounds and squares which lay on an el- 
evated plain above the east bank of the 
Muskingum, save that they were the remains 
of an ancient people, who had long since 
vanished from the face of the earth. The 
settlers were much interested in these vast 

monuments, which showed that they were 

7 



erected by a race of men greatly superior to 
the aborigines of the country. 

The sides of the ramparts and mounds 
were covered by grand old trees, the growth 
of centuries. One day, in the presence of 
Governor St. Clair, some trees were felled, 
and the number of concentric circles counted 
in order to ascertain their age. One of the 
largest, a poplar tree, contained 452 circles, 
and therefore was more than 452 years old. 
The Rev. Manasseh Cutler, from whose jour- 
nal the above facts were taken, wrote, "Ad- 
mitting the age of the present growth to be 
450 years and that it had been preceded by 
one of equal size and age, which as probably 
as otherwise was not the first, the works have 
been deserted more than 900 years. If they 
were occupied 100 years, they were erected 
more than 1000 years ago." 

The worthy pioneers gave evidence of their 
wisdom and culture by laying out broad 
streets and ample lots, and above all by re- 
serving some of the most perfect of the 
ancient earthworks for public grounds. 

With their country's struggle for liberty 



still fresh in their minds they could not 
honor sufficiently the name of the beautiful 
Queen of France, who had helped them dur- 
ing that weary period by her love and sym- 
pathy; and at an early meeting it was decided 
to call the square which contained the conical 
mound Marie Antoinette Square. It bore 
this name until 1791, but after that it was 
simply designated as Mound Square. The 
Great Mound, or Conus, as it is sometimes 
called, is as perfect today as it was when first 
discovered by Putnam's little band. Its 
perpendicular altitude is 30 feet, and its base 
is a regular circle, 375 feet in circumference. 
It is surrounded by a moat 15 feet wide and 
4 feet deep, and defended by a parapet 20 
feet thick and 585 feet in circumference. 
What a wonderful piece of work it is ! "What 
a witness to the skill and intelligence of a 
prehistoric people ! What lessons it teaches 
in constancy and patience when we realize 
that all the earth used was probably carried 
from some distant place in baskets, and that 
as it rose foot by foot it was moulded into 
shape by the hands of the laborers. 



Is it the colossal sepulcher of some mighty- 
chieftain, typifying by its magnitude and 
symmetry the nobility and beauty of his 
life? Was it erected as a memorial of some 
deadly conflict, on the very spot where the 
young braves shed their blood for their na- 
tion's cause? Was it an altar built to placate 
an avenging God and thus to ward off famine 
and pestilence from the land, from whose 
sacrificial fires the cries of hundreds of vic- 
tims ascended to the Great Spirit ? Questions 
like these must have arisen in the minds of 
our forefathers as they viewed this curious 
work from the parapet, or climbed its sloping 
sides to the top, where a great white oak 
more than 100 feet high spread out its 
branches in perpetual benediction. They 
made an opening near the summit of the 
mound, and found under a large flat stone 
the bones of an adult lying in a horizontal 
position on thin stones placed vertically a 
few inches apart. The opening was filled 
up for it was feared that the contour of the 
mound would be destroyed by further exca- 
vation, and the search has never been re- 
newed. 

10 



In order to preserve these noble remnants 
of ancient skill, the founders of Marietta re- 
solved to lease them "for as long a time as 
they were not wanted for the uses for which 
they were reserved." Marie Antoinette 
Square was leased in 1791 to Gen. Rufus 
Putnam for 12 years, with the following con- 
ditions: "He would surround the whole 
square with mulberry trees with an elm at 
each corner. The base of the mound to be 
encircled with weeping willows, with ever- 
greens on the mound. The circular parapet 
outside of ditch to be surrounded with trees; 
all within the Square to remain undisturbed 
by the plow and seeded down to grass, the 
whole enclosed with a post and rail fence." 

The settlers had not been long in their 

new home before death claimed some of their 

number. The first to be taken was Major 

Cushing's little daughter Nabby, who died 

Aug. 25, 1788. She was buried on the ridge 

south of the present Oak Grove Cemetery, 

where the house of the late Beman Gates 

now stands. 

On the 15th of January of the following 
11 



year, General Varnum was carried to the 
same spot and buried with military honors. 
Cut off in his prime, at the early age of forty, 
his loss was deeply felt by his fellow-towns- 
men. He was a Brigadier-General in the 
Revolution, had made a brilliant record in the 
old Congress, and at his death was one of 
the Judges of the Supreme Court of the 
Northwest Territory. 

The order of procession, copied by Dr. 
Hildreth from the original manuscript of 
Winthrop Sargent, secretary of the territory, 
was as follows: 

THE MILITARY 



Marshals 

Mr. Wheaton bearing 
the sword and military 
commission of the de- 
ceased on a mourning 
cushion. 

Mr. Mayo with the di- 
ploma and order of 
Cincinnati on a mourn- 
ing cushion. 



Marshals 

Mr. Lord bearing the 
civil Commission on a 
mourning cushion. 



Mr. Fearing bearing the 
insignia of Masonry on 
a mourning cushion. 



Pall-Holders 

Griffin Greene, Esq. 
Judge Tupper 
The Secretary 



Pall-Holders 

Judge Crary 
Judge Putnam 
Judge Parsons 



PRIVATE MOURNERS 

Charles Greene and Richard Greene 

Frederick Crary and Paiclip Greene 

Doctor Scott and Doctor Farley 

Deacon Story and Doctor Drowne 

Private citizens, two and two 

Indian Chiefs, two and two 

The Militia Officers 

Officers of the Garrison at Fort Harmar 

The Civil Officers 

The Cincinnati 

The Masons 

This reservation, which had been selected 

by Dr. Cutler, one of the Directors of the 

Company, was used for the burial of the 

dead till the breaking out of the Indian War 

in 1790, when it was abandoned because of its 

long distance from the Block House. Here 

were buried a Mr. Welsh, from Kentucky, 

who landed at Marietta, sick with smallpox; 

eight other persons, adults, who died from 

the same disease, and several children; Mrs. 

Rowena (Tupper) Sargent, the first bride of 

the Northwest Territory, who was afterward 

removed to Mound Cemetery; Mrs. Shepherd, 

first wife of Col. Enoch Shepherd, and Mrs. 

Clark, first wife of Major John Clark. In the 

Autumn of 1867 the remains of twenty-six 
13 



persons were removed from the sunken 
graves of the old burying ground to Oak 
Grove Cemetery, and a granite monument 
was erected to mark their last resting place. 
General Varnum's remains were identified 
by the brass buttons found in the grave, but 
the others were entirely lacking in distin- 
guishing marks. 

During the Indian War in June, 1792, Gen- 
eral Benjamin Tupper died and was buried 
between Third and Fourth streets, opposite, 
the Great Elevated Square. The site was 
commanded by the cannon at Campus Mar- 
tius, where most of the settlers lived during 
the four years struggle with the Indians. A 
description of the funeral, given by Mr. John 
Heckewelder, who was visiting in Marietta 
at the time, throws a vivid light on the man- 
ners and customs of the little town which 
then numbered less than three hundred 
people. Mr. Heckewelder writes as follows: 

"Gen. Tupper, who had died the day be- 
fore, was buried on the 17th. In considera- 
tion of the four different offices which he 
held, first as General in the service of the 
United States in the late war; secondly as 
14 



member of ihe Cincinnati order; thirdly as 
director of the Ohio Company; and fourthly 
as master among the Freemasons; therefore, 
because of these positions, great honors were 
shown his remains at the funeral. I will 
mention what was most remarkable to me. 
After a company of soldiers had arrived with 
drum and fife from Campus Martins, and all 
the Freemasons had gathered, the latter en- 
tered the house of the deceased where the 
remains lay. They stayed for about half an 
hour, during which time a guard had been 
placed at the doors of the house. When 
they came out they were furnished with 
tools according to their different degrees. 
They wore leather aprons, skillfully em- 
broidered with red, blue or green ribbons 
around the edge, and bearing the design of a 
square and compass in the center. A few 
wore only a clean white leather apron. Two 
men with drawn swords placed themselves 
on both sides of the door through which the 
body was to be taken, and when at last it 
was brought forward and placed in the 
square, the Masons gathered around it and 
those with swords stood between it and the 
people, so that none could draw too near. 
There was a lid with hinges at the head of 
the coffin which could be opened. On the 
coffin were laid: first, an open Bible with 
square and compass; second, a costly sword 
in a black sheath, lined with red velvet; 
third, four black boxes, about ten inches 
square; fourth, green bushes or asparagus 
greens. On the four boxes, two at the head 
15 



and two at the feet, his four written com- 
missions were laid. Some of the Masons 
wore red, others blue ribbons fastened at 
the breast. Two of them stood with long, 
round, beautifully carved wands in their 
hands, to which a blue ribbon was fastened 
at the top. Two others held finely carved 
candlesticks, two and a half feet long, con- 
taining white wax candles, at least two inches 
in diameter. All these arrangements having 
been completed, the clergyman, who was also 
a Mason, offered up a prayer, of which how- 
ever I could understand but little, as he spoke 
in a very low tone. A very mournful dirge 
was then sung, and the order of the proces- 
sion called out. Hereupon the coffin was 
closed and every Mason broke off a little 
branch of the greens which lay upon it, and 
stuck it in his coat. The Bible, with the 
square and compass, the pocketbook, the four 
black boxes with the papers resting on them, 
and the sword, were now carefully lifted up, 
and carried by as many men as were neces- 
sary, and also the coffin, which had been 
covered by a large white cloth. The soldiers 
who had stood in double rank from the gates 
during the whole of the ceremony with 
stacked bayonets were now in part stationed 
by their corporal where the procession 
passed. After the other part had performed 
various evolutions before their officer, the 
drums were muffled and covered with a 
black cloth, and at a given signal they 
marched off, while a funeral inarch was be- 
ing played. The Masons who had not been 
16 



occupied with the care of the remains 
marched behind them, hand in hand, two and 
two. These were followed by those carrying 
hammers, measuring lathes, the two round 
wands, columns, etc., and finally came the 
clergyman, and behind him a man carrying 
the open Bible with both hands, and four 
men, each carrying a black box. The coffin 
now followed. On each side of the coffin 
stood a Mason, the Master walking beside it, 
and the mourners behind him. As they 
neared the grave, the soldiers who stood in 
double file approached it, went through a 
military drill and then retired. Hereupon 
the Masons drew near to the grave, and after 
a given signal knelt down around it. The 
clergyman then said: 'Lord! nowlettestthy 
servant depart in peace,' etc. He pro- 
nounced several passages from the Scriptures 
applicable to the servants of God and closed 
with the words: 'After labor rest is sweet.' 
The Masons then arose and threw their 
green twigs on the coffin, and the grave was 
immediately filled up. The guards of the 
different stations were now relieved, and all 
returned in the former order, the Masons re- 
assembled in the house for the closing exer- 
cises." 

Years afterward the remains of General 
Tupper were removed to Mound Cemetery 
and laid beside his son, Major Anselm Tup- 
per, who died in 1808. Two plain marble 

slabs mark their graves. 
17 



Major Tupper was probably the youngest 
hero of the Revolution, for soon after the 
battle of Lexington, when not twelve years 
old, he enlisted in the regiment of which his 
father was Major. With true military spirit 
he bore the trials and perils of war, and 
when he was promoted the document em- 
bodying the recommendation was indorsed 
by General Washington. At the close of the 
Revolution Major Tupper was engaged as 
surveyor with his father, who had been ap- 
pointed by the Government to lay out the 
lands in the territory northwest of the Ohio. 
After the survey of the seven ranges was 
completed, he returned to Massachusetts, 
but in the spring of 1788 he recrossed the 
Alleghanies as one of the forty-eight pioneers, 
and became Marietta's first school teacher. 

In 1793 the little settlement was again 

scourged with smallpox, and a daughter of 

Governor St. Clair, a son of Major Putnam, 

William Moulton, one of the pioneers, and a 

number of others were buried just above 

Wooster street, west of the place where the 

Presbyterian Church now stands. These, to- 
18 



gether with two other interesting characters, 

Matthew Kerr and Captain Josiah Rogers, 

who were killed by the Indians in 1791, it is 

said were reinterred in Mound Cemetery in 

1839, but their graves were not marked. 

Captain Rogers was an officer in General 

Mogan's rifle corps at the taking of Burgoyne. 

He was one of the original pioneers and 

because of his bravery was employed as spy, 

or ranger, during the Indian war at Campus 

Martius, his duty being to range the country 

between the Muskingum and Duck Greek, 

making a tour of fifteen or twenty miles a 

day. 

When the Indian had buried his hatchet 

the settlers returned to their homes, and the 

little town resumed its accustomed activity. 

Occasionally their busy, happy lives would 

be saddened by the death of one of their 

number, for they were bound together by no 

common ties and seemed like one large 

family. They continued to use the sand hill 

on Wooster street for a burying ground, and 

as late as 1849 some old tombstones could be 

seen there. It was a dreary place, however, 
19 



and when in 1800, some one made the happy- 
suggestion that the Mound Square would be 
an appropriate and beautiful spot for a cem- 
etery, the idea was received with great favor. 

When Congress sold the western land to 
the Ohio Company, following the recom- 
mendation of Dr. Cutler it granted perpetu- 
ally Section 29 in each township of the Ohio 
Company's purchase for the support of re- 
ligion. In 1800 the territorial Legislature ap- 
pointed Ministerial Trustees, whose duty it 
was to take charge of the funds which 
accumulated from the taxation on the land 
set apart for this purpose, and as Mound 
Square lay in this section it came under their 
control. 

Rufus Putnam, who, it will be remembered, 

had leased the Mound Square in 1791 for 

twelve years, at once ceded it to the town, 

and in consequence of such cession the 

Trustees granted the square to the town to 

be improved as a burying ground. No formal 

action was taken, however, until May 3d, 

1803, when, according to the records of the 

Ministerial Trustees, it was resolved "that 
20 



M 



«sia 



M 






PPK 



n 



.'-."'Memory oJ Col. ^f 
ROBERT TAYLOR 

;' Who -nePirteD This 
'' Lue Sep 3o'^ fgo/^ 
in the. (,^'/-ed r of 

S'-. : - kts a%e ••'• ■?! 

Being Tk*. First interment 



I, ! 



Mound Square be reserved for the following 
purposes, viz.: a part thereof for erecting 
public buildings thereon and the remainder 
for a public burying place to be laid off by 
the direction of the Trustees." But nearly 
two years before that time the first burial 
had taken place, that of Colonel Robert 
Taylor, a soldier of the War of the Revolution, 
who died Sept. 30th, 1801. 

In the spring of 1811 the citizens, wishing 
to make the title good, directed the Council 
in a town meeting to make application to 
the Ministerial Trustees for a permanent 
lease of Mound Square as a public burying 
ground. Accordingly on the 7th day of May 
the Board resolved that Mound Square be 
reserved to the town of Marietta for the pur- 
poses above mentioned, free of rent for 
ninety-nine years, renewable forever. 

Thanks to the good sense of our fore- 
fathers, the first clause of the resolution of 
1803 came to naught, though at one time it 
seemed likely to be acted upon. This was in 
1822, when the proper location for the new 

Court House, recently destroyed to give place 
21 



to a more modern structure, was creating 

much discussion. On March 27th of that 

year, the citizens, by order of the Town 

Council, voted upon the following resolution: 

"Resolved, by the Town of Marietta, in 
town-meeting assembled, that the town do 
appropriate so much of the west side of the 
Mound Square as will be adequate to the 
quantity of land at present owned and occu- 
pied by the county at and near the present 
Court House, for the purpose of erecting the 
County buildings thereon." 

There were 75 votes cast for the resolution 
and 116 against it. 

In 1804 the little town mourned the loss of 
three of its most influential citizens, Colonel 
William Stacey, Griffin Greene and the Rev. 
Daniel Story. At the beginning of the 
Revolution, Colonel Stacey was a first 
lieutenant in the militia of New Salem, Mass. 
When the news of the battle of Lexington 
reached the town, the excited people rushed 
to the village green and there awaited 
anxiously the action of the militia officers. 

As the Captain seemed disinclined to 

express his opinion, the gallant Stacey 

stepped out of the line, and, declaring that 
22 



he would no longer serve a king who 
murdered his countrymen, he drew his 
commission from his pocket and tore it into 
a hundred pieces. This fervid patriotism 
was greeted by aloud huzza. The old com- 
pany was summarily disbanded and a new 
company marched off to Cambridge with 
Stacey as its Captain. 

In 1778, when he had risen by his merits 
to the rank of lieutenant-colonel, he was 
captured by the Indians, who, under Walter 
Butler, ravaged the settlement in Cherry 
Valley, N. Y. After a weary march of two 
hundred miles he was tied to the stake, the 
fire was kindled, and he was saved from this 
dreadful death at the last minute by catching 
the eye of Joseph Brant, the noted Indian 
Chief, whom he knew to be a Free Mason, 
and making to him the well known sign of 
the fraternity. Influenced by Brant the 
Indians released their victim but kept him a 
prisoner for four years. 

Colonel Stacey came with his family to 

Marietta in 1789, and was an honored and 

respected citizen. His burial place in Mound 
23 



Cemetery is not known, for the record of the 
interments made in the early days is very 
incomplete, and many of the tombstones 
have gone to partial or total destruction, so 
far as the inscriptions are concerned. 

Griffin Greene was a native of little Rhode 
Island. When hostilities began between the 
colonies and the mother country, he at once 
enlisted in one of the troops of his state. 
For this he was cast out of the synagogue of 
the Quakers at the same time with his cousin, 
General Nathaniel Greene, and never re- 
turned to them again. Mr. Greene was a 
man of remarkable intelligence, and was 
noted for his polished manners. When he 
came to Marietta in 1788 he brought with 
him a collection of valuable books, which 
proved a great boon to the frontier village. 
He was a Master Mason and one of the mem- 
bers of the Marietta Lodge, known as the 
American Union Lodge No. 1, which was a 
reorganization of a lodge formed during the 
Revolution by some officers of the Connecti- 
cut line. He was buried by this order in 

June, 1804, with great ceremony. 
24 



On December 30th of the same year the 
Rev. Daniel Story was carried to Mound 
Cemetery by loving friends, who appre- 
ciated the sacrifices he had made for their 
sake. On the monument erected by his 
relatives in Massachusetts seventy-four years 
after his death are the words, "He was the 
first minister of Christ who came to labor 
in the vast field known as the Northwest 
Territory, excepting the Moravian Mission- 
aries." Mr. Story's life was not an easy one, 
for his pastoral charge included besides 
Marietta, the settlements which were spring- 
ing up on the two rivers. In a little log 
canoe, he paddled down the Ohio to Belpre, 
or ascended the beautiful Muskingum twenty 
miles to Waterford, where the people, gath- 
ered in the shade of a fine old elm, heard 
him gladly. 

Sunday in Marietta an hundred years ago 

was pre-eminently a day of worship. Our 

forefathers, in whose veins ran the blood of 

the Puritans, considered it a privilege to be 

able to attend divine service three times a 

day, and thought a sermon of two hours none 
25 



too long. To prepare sermons for such an 
audience as gathered in the northeast block- 
house of Campus Martius was no small task, 
for many of the men who sat on the hard, 
wooden benches were graduates of Harvard 
or Dartmouth, and had listened to the most 
eminent preachers of the day. However, 
Mr. Story gave universal satisfaction, and it 
is said that his sermons were practical and 
scholarly and fully equal to those of the best 
preachers of New England. 

A few months after Mr. Story's death, in 
February, 1805, the same friends marched 
again to Mound Cemetery and laid to rest 
Colonel Ebenezer Sproat, of the Massachu- 
setts line. Colonel Sproat was the first 
sheriff of Washington County and opened 
the first court ever held in the territory, 
which, according to Dr. Hildreth, was an 
august spectacle, conducted with great dignity 
and decorum. Colonel Sproat preceded by 
a military escort marched with his drawn 
sword and wand of office at the head of the 
judges, governor, secretary, &o, to the block- 
house of Campus Martius, where the court 
26 



was held. The Indians, watching the little 
procession wend its way up the Muskingum, 
admired greatly the commanding figure of 
Colonel Sproat, who, being six feet, four 
inches high, towered head and shoulders 
above his companions. They always called 
him hereafter Hetuck, or Big Buckeye, and 
thus originated the title now applied to the 
natives of Ohio. 

The next hero of the Revolution to be 
buried near the mound was Lieutenant 
Joseph Lincoln, one of the "forty-eight im- 
mortals." On an old fashioned tomb of 
sandstone in letters almost illegible can be 
traced these words : 

Here 
Are interred the remains of 

Joseph Lincoln 

A native of Gloucester, Mass. 

Who departed this life 

Sept. 21st, 1807 

In the 47th year of his age. 

In 1811 Major Ezra Putnam, the oldest of 

the pioneers, passed away. He was a soldier 

in the French and Indian War and was one 
27 



of the officers in command of the provincial 
troops at the taking of Cape Breton in 1758. 

A year later, General Joseph Buell, an- 
other of the Pioneer settlers, found here his 
last resting place. He was Sergeant in the 
U. S. Army in 1785, and arrived at Fort 
Harmar on the eighth of May of the follow- 
ing year. He took an active part in the 
affairs of the new territory and was made 
State Senator in 1803, Associate Judge in 1804 
and Major General of Militia in 1805, which 
position he held until his death. 

Not far from the graves of these old soldiers 
stands a plain granite monument which 
bears this simple inscription : 

Gen. Rufus Putnam, 

A Revolutionary Officer 

And the leader of the 

Colony which made the 

First settlement in the 

Territory of the Northwest. 

Born April 9, 1738 

Died May 4, 1824. 

General Putnam's whole life is expressed 
28 




SpP>p'' 



in that one word, "Leader," for he was truly 
a leader of men. On the battle field, in the 
arduous enterprise of founding a colony in 
the wilderness, in the political life of the 
new state, in the civil aud religious life of 
the little community where he dwelt, his was 
the mind that directed, his the hand that led. 
Well has he been called "The Father of 
Ohio!" May her sons ever honor his 
memory. 

Not far away from his old comrade-in- 
arms lies brave Comodore Whipple, to whom 
the honor is given of firing the first naval 
gun in the cause of American Independence. 
Commodore Whipple gave not only his ser- 
vices to his country, but thousands of dollars 
which were never repaid. "It is presumed 
that no other one amongst the military or 
naval commanders of the Revolution ex- 
pended as much for the men under their 
care, with the exception of that extraordinary 
and good man, the Marquis LaFayette." On 
the white marble monument erected in his 
memory by Mr. Nahum Ward can be read 

these words : 

29 



Sacred 

to the memory of 

COMMODORE ABRAHAM WHIPPLE 

whose name, skill and courage 

WILL EVER REMAIN THE PRIDE AND BOAST OF 
HIS COUNTRY. 

In the late Revolution he was the 

first on the sea to hurl defiance at 

proud Britain, 

gallantly leading the way to arrest from 

the Mistress of the ocean, her scepter, 

AND THERE TO WAVE THE STAR-SPANGLED 
BANNER. 

He also conducted to the sea the first 
square-rigged vessel ever built on the Ohio 

OPENING TO COMMERCE 
RESOURCES BEYOND CALCULATION. 

Another naval officer who "dared to hurl 
defiance at proud Britain" is buried in this 
interesting old place. A brown stone slab 
which rests about three feet above the ground 
on six stone pillars bears the following epi- 
taph, in which an old error is evidently 
corrected : 

In memory of 

Capt. Nathan Saltanstall 

1727-1807 

Was first Commandant of Fort Trumble. 

During the Revolution 

He commanded the Warren Frigate 

and ship Putnam; but was not 

Commodore of the fleet burned at Penobscot, 

30 



West of Captain Saltanstall lies another 
soldier of the Revolution, Colonel Ichabod 
Nye, who cast in his lot with the little colony 
in the summer of 1788. 

The curious observer learns from his 
tombstone that 

He was the head of one of the first families 

which came from New England 

to Marietta where he continued to 

reside until his death, 

November 27, 1840. 

At which time he had been longer 

resident at the head of a family than 

any other person in Ohio. 

Colonel Nye had ever the good of the town 
at heart. He was intensely interested in 
preserving the ancient works and in 1837 
called the attention of the citizens to the 
"Big Mound," which had been badly neg- 
lected for some years. The sextons had 
used the grounds as pasture for their sheep 
and the tracks made had been washed into 
great holes by the rains. Through Colonel 
Nye's efforts over $400 was raised and the 
needed improvements made in the following 

year. Stone steps were placed on the north 
31 



side of the Mound, which was restored to its 
original shape and protected by a railing at 
the summit. 

In 1869 the remains of Captain Josiah 
Monroe, of the Revolutionary Army, who 
died in 1801, were removed from the first 
burial ground to Mound Cemetery. Captain 
Monroe was a member of the Ohio Company, 
and Marietta's second Postmaster. 

Five other Revolutionary soldiers lie 
buried around the beautiful Mound, not so 
noted perhaps as those above mentioned but 
all worthy of our deepest gratitude. Andrew 
McCallister is one of these, who died in 1816, 
in the 75th year of his age. In an unmarked 
grave lies Ephraim Foster, who came to 
Marietta in 1800; and died in 1824. His army 
service began with the battle of Lexington, 
at which time he was twenty-five years old. 
He marched to Quebec with Arnold, fought 
in the famous battle of Brandywine, suf- 
fered at Valley Forge, and was finally dis- 
abled at the battle of Monmouth, in 1778. 

"A Patriot of the Revolution" and "Soldier 

of the Revolution" are the simple inscriptions 
32 



on the stones which mark the graves of Capt. 
Stanton Prentiss and Nathaniel Dodge, trib- 
utes to their memory as expressive as a long 
list of glorious deeds would be. On a quaint 
little slab erected in memory of John Green, 
who died in 1832, is this quaint little stanza, 
which tells of a life well spent : 

"A soldier from his youth, first in the cause 
That freed our country from a tyrant's laws, 
And then through manhood to his latest breath, 
In the best cause which triumphs over death." 

Here, too, lie soldiers of the "War of 1812, 
for the little town of Marietta though in an 
isolated position heard her country's call, and 
sent forth her sons gladly to the conflict. 
Among them are Colonel John Thorniley, 
Major "William Hart, Major John Clark, Cap- 
tain Timothy Buell, Jason Curtis, Joseph L. 
Reckard, Sen., Wyllis Hall, Jasher Taylor, 
Stephen Daniels. Harry Cogswell, Robert 
Wells, and Major Alexander Hill, who "re- 
cruited a company of infantry in Washington 
County for the U. S. Service and was person- 
ally in command of the company when 
actively engaged in repelling the night attack 

of the British at Fort Erie in August, 1814." 
33 



His tomb, which contains the above informa- 
tion, also states that he made the coffin for 
the first interment in the cemetery in 1801. 

Soldiers of the Mexican War sleep in this 
hallowed spot, and on Decoration Day the 
ground is dotted with little flag's which mark 
the graves of the brave men who died to pre- 
serve the Union. Under a tall marble mon- 
ument with the insignia, a broken sword left 
in full relief, rests one of these heroes, Col- 
onel Jesse Hildebrand, who at the beginning 
of the Civil War was General of the Ohio 
Militia. Although over sixty years of age he 
raised the Seventy-seventh Ohio Regiment, 
of which he was commissioned colonel. He 
commanded the brigade at Shiloh which re- 
ceived the first attack of the enemy, and his 
conduct on this occasion was so gallant that 
General Sherman declared him to be "the 
bravest man he ever knew." 

In his youth Colonel Hildebrand was a 

playmate of Governor Jack Brough, whose 

parents are buried in Mound Cemetery. 

John Brough, it is said, came to America with 

Blennerhassett, and was a well known 
34 



figure in Marietta. He kept a tavern in the 
old Court House, and there in 1811 Ohio's 
famous War Governor was born. 

Side by side with the defenders of our na- 
tion lie men who in times of peace gave 
strength and character not only to their little 
village but to the great state of Ohio. A 
large sandstone monument is erected in 
memory of one of these patriots, Return 
Jonathan Meigs, third Governor of Ohio. 
He was a son of Colonel Return Jonathan 
Meigs, a famous officer of the Revolution, 
who commanded the third division in Ben- 
edict Arnold's terrible expedition to Quebec. 
It may not be amiss to give here the history 
of the name which was made illustrious by 
father and son. "At Middletown, Conn., 
just about one hundred and sixty years ago, 
Jonathan Meigs, a young man, was dismissed 
by his lady love, and more than once was 
this done. At last, when he was going away, 
looking back with the saddest of tears in his 
eyes, her heart relented, and in a soft voice 
came, 'Return Jonathan.' Hence their first 

born, Return Jonathan Meigs." 
35 



Return Jonathan Meigs, Jr., at the age of 
twenty-three came to Marietta in 1788, and 
from that time was one of her most honored 
citizens. He was Governor during the "War 
of 1812 and held more offices than any other 
man who ever lived in Washington County. 
On his tomb is the following inscription : 

Here lies 

The body of His Excellency 

Return Jonathan Meigs, 

Who was born at Middletown, Conn., Nov. 

1765, 

And died at Marietta, March 29, 1825. 

For many years his time and talents were 

Devoted to the services of his country. 

He successively filled the distinguished places 

of Judge of the Territory Northwest of 
the Ohio, Judge of the Supreme Court of the 

State of Ohio, 

Senator in the Congress of the United States, 

Governor of the State of Ohio, and 

Postmaster General of the United States. 

To the honored and revered memory of 

An ardent Patriot, 

A practical Statesman, 

An enlightened Scholar 

A dutiful Son, 

An indulgent Father, 

An affectionate Husband, 

This monument is erected by his mourning 

widow, Sophia Meigs. 

36 












R 










c:i t 



."l 



.1 



.;* 



fc. t 




This beautiful tribute to Gov. Meigs was 
written by his friend, Dr. John Cotton, who 
sleeps near him in this White City of the 
dead. Dr. Cotton was a worthy descendant 
of the famous John Cotton, the "Father of 
Boston." He came to Marietta in 1815 and 
for more than thirty years was one of her 
most successful physicians. 

He was a man of fine education, having 
graduated with honor from Harvard College, 
and he used his knowledge for the benefit of 
the community, often lecturing in public and 
ever trying to stimulate the cause of educa- 
tion. When Marietta College was incorpor- 
ated, in 1835, he was one of the original 
trustees, and for many years presiding offi- 
cer of the board. In 1824 he represented 
Washington County in the Legislature, and 
was elected by that body an Associate Judge 
of the Court of Common Pleas, which ap- 
pointment was renewed from time to time 
until his death in 1847. 

Long before Dr. Cotton passed away the 
town was bereft of its two pioneer physicians, 
Dr. Jabez True and Dr. Nathan Mcintosh, 
37 



who both died of the prevailing epidemic 
fever of 1823. 

Arriving at Marietta early in the summer 
of 1788, Dr. True built a little log office 
for his books and medicine a short 
distance from the bank of the Muskingum, 
and began his arduous work. It was many 
years after the settlement of the Ohio Com- 
pany before roads were opened, but that did 
not prevent Dr. True from going on his er- 
rands of mercy. He was always ready to 
hear the call of the distressed, and would 
swim his horse across the streams, and fol- 
low the old Indian trails marked out by blazes 
on the trees, often at the peril of his life. 
Gentle, sympathetic, and generous, he was 
called the "Gaius" of Marietta by his loving 
friends, who ever cherished his memory. 

Dr. Mcintosh came West in 1790. He was 
surgeon at the Waterf ord garrison during the 
Indian War, and at its close located in Mari- 
etta, where his obliging manner and skill as 
a physician won him a large practice. 

Another physician rests in this old ceme- 
tery to whom we cannot be sufficiently grate- 
38 



ful. Dr. Samuel Prescot Hildreth came from 
his home in Massachusetts to Marietta on 
horseback in 1806. He was a successful 
physician, an investigator and writer upon 
scientific subjects, but his fame rests chiefly 
on the two works entitled "Pioneer History" 
and "The Lives of the Early Settlers of 
Ohio." He collected the material for these 
volumes from old manuscripts and the lips 
of the few surviving pioneers, and by so do- 
ing preserved a great deal of important his- 
tory and many valuable anecdotes, which 
otherwise would have been lost. 

It is impossible to record in this sketch 
even the names of all the noble men who 
have passed away after years of usefulness, 
and are now sleeping in this old burial 
ground, but a few more of the oldest inhabi- 
tants must be mentioned because of the 
prominent part they took in everything 
which pertained to the welfare of Marieta. 

South of the path which leads to the 

mound from Fifth Street rest three well 

known ministers of the early days; the Rev. 

Hiram Gear, of the Baptist denomination, 
39 



and the Rev. Samuel P. Robbins and Dr. 
Thomas Wickes, the second and fourth pas- 
tors of the First Congregational Church. It 
was during Mr. Robbins' pastorate, in 1809, 
that the First Religious Society built and 
dedicated its meeting-house, which soon be- 
came known as the Two-Horned Church. 

In this part of the cemetery may also be 
found the graves of two representatives of 
the early press of Marietta, Royal Prentiss 
and Caleb Emerson. The former began his 
newspaper career as apprentice in the office 
of the Ohio Gazette and Virginia Herald, 
which was published in the Stockade in 1801 
by Wyllys Silliman and Elijah Bachus. This 
paper was purchased in 1810 by Caleb Em- 
erson, who changed its name to the Western 
Spectator. Mr. Emerson was an attorney of 
ability, a profound thinker and a graceful 
writer. When John Quincy Adams stopped 
at Marietta in 1843, it is said he found his 
peer in the Marietta editor. 

Somewhere in the shadow of the Great 

Mound sleeps David Everett, who came to 

Marietta in 1813 and was editor of The 
40 




CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH 



American Friend, of which Timothy and 
Daniel Hand Buell were proprietors. He 
died in the same year, but the few months 
passed in the little town gained for him many 
friends who, we are told, "ever dwelt upon 
his remembrance with melancholy sensa- 
tions." Mr. Everett was a man of great lit- 
erary ability and an author; but while his 
essays on moral and economical topics have 
long been forgotten, a few lines of a little 
poem which he wrote for a small boy to 
speak at a school exhibition more than one 
hundred years ago, are often quoted, tho 
their origin is seldom known. 

"You'd scarce expect one of my age 

To speak in public on the stage, 

And if I chance to fall below 

Demosthenes or Cicero 

Don't view me with a critic's eye, 

But pass my imperfections by. 

Large streams from little fountains flow, 

Tall oaks from little acorns grow." 

Mr. Nahum Ward was a gentleman of the 
old school. All who remember him speak of 
his polished manners, his generous nature 
and his great hospitality. He had the honor 
of entertaining the Marquis de La Fayette 
41 



in his home when that famous General was 
traveling down the Ohio in 1825. He added 
much to the beauty of our town by planting 
many of the fine shade trees, and in 1857 he 
built and endowed the Unitarian Church, 
which still remains from an architectural 
standpoint one of the finest bnildings we 
possess. 

Three generations of the Woodbridge fam- 
ily are buried here. Judge Woodbridge, the 
first merchant of the Great Northwest came 
to Marietta early in 1789, and was for some 
time a partner of the ill-starred Blennerhas- 
sett. His son, Dudley Woodbridge, Jr., who 
continued his business for more than fifty 
years, sleeps beside him, and his grand-son, 
George Morgan Woodbridge, "poet, philoso- 
pher, statesman, orator, each in all and all in 
each," passed away a few years ago, after 
eighty-six years of active life. 

A handsome granite monument marks the 
grave of Colonel John Mills, who was a lead- 
ing merchant of Marietta for more than half 
a century. Colonel Mills did much for the 

development and prosperity of his native 
42 



city. He was one of the founders of Marietta 
College, which was ever dear to his heart, 
and profited largely by his generosity. "His 
integrity was never questioned. He was a 
Christian without guile, a citizen without an 
enemy, a man honored and universally be- 
loved. He lived to a great old age, a life 
which like a summer day grew more and 
more beautiful until it was hid from human 
sight by the deepening glories of the sunset." 

Here are the graves of Col. Ichabod Nye's 
sons, Arius and Anselm Tupper, who were 
born in Campus Martius in the last decade of 
the eighteenth century. Growing to man- 
hood and then to old age in the little town 
which gave them birth, they were esteemed 
by all for their strength of character, well 
stored minds and honest hearts. They were 
both much interested in religion, and the 
Episcopal Church of Marietta owes its being 
to the influence of Mr. Arius Nye. 

Of all the men who rest in this old burial 

ground, no one is more worthy of mention 

than Israel Ward Andrews who came to 

Marietta in 1838, and for fifty years gave his 
43 



life and thought, his work and sympathy to 
the College. President Andrews possessed 
a strong personality and left a deep impres- 
sion upon the character of many generations 
of Marietta students. 

Much that is interesting could be written 
concerning Deacon Adams, Isaac Berry, Sala 
Bosworth and his son Daniel, Lucius Brig- 
ham, Captain Burch, Daniel Hand Buell, Par- 
don Cooke, Jonathan Cram and his sons, Ol- 
iver and Jacob, William Curtis, James Dunn, 
Ephraim Emerson, the Apostle of Temper- 
ance, Luther Edgerton, "William Fay, Owen 
Franks, Capt. Daniel Greene, Benjamin Guit- 
teau, J. E. Hall, Deacon Hart, John Lewis, 
John Marshall, Samuel Maxwell, Dr. Jonas 
Moore, E. W. Nye who was born in Campus 
Martius, Daniel Protsman, Deacon Putnam, 
Theodore Scott, Charles and Samuel Ship- 
man, David Skinner, Louis Soyez, Col. Au- 
gustus Stone who when a pioneer lad stood 
watch on the Mound, Weston Thomas, 
Thomas Vinton, William Warren, Judge 
Whittlesey, Noah Wilson and Philip Worth- 

ington. 

44 



Their names though now seldom heard, 
are remembered with reverence by the old 
citizens of Marietta, who realize how much 
the present generation owes to their lives of 
service. 

Many quaint old epitaphs can here be 
found, often faulty in rhyme, but always ex- 
pressing the sentiments so characteristic of 
our forefathers, — a realization of the short- 
ness of life and a firm faith in the Unseen. 

Their keen sense of responsibility is shown 
by the following lines which are inscribed 
on a number of tombstones. 

"Behold and see as you pass by, 
As you are now so once was I. 
As I am now so you shall be, 
Prepare for death and follow me." 

"All you that to this stone draw near 
To be informed who's interred here 
If rich or poor think soon you must 
Like us be summoned to the dust." 

In its early days Mound Cemetery was far 

removed from the noise and bustle of the 

little village, but the years have brought 

many changes, and the once sequestered spot 

now lies in the very heart of the city. The 
45 



hum of the electric car disturbs its calm re- 
pose, and the merry voices of school children 
as they pass to and fro echo round the beau- 
tiful mound. But its gates seldom open to 
admit the silent procession of mourners, for 
the streets of this City of the Dead have 
been thickly settled for many years. 



46 



NORTH OF MOUND 

EAST SIDE 

1 Colonel Robert Taylor 

2 General Joseph Buell 

3 Major Ezra Putnam 

4 General Rufus Putnam 

5 Ephraim Foster* 

6 Andrew McAllister 

7 Griffin Greene* 

8 Rev. Daniel Story 

9 Colonel Ebenezer Sproat 

10 Commodore Abraham Whipple 

11 General Benjamin Tupper 

12 Major Anselm Tupper 

WEST SIDE 

13 Lieutenant Robert Lincoln 

14 Major Alexander Hill (1812) 

15 Captain Saltanstall 

16 Nathaniel Dodge 

17 Governor Meigs 

18 Colonel Ichabod Nye 

SOUTH OF MOUND 

19 Captain Stanton Prentiss 

20 John Green 

21 Captain Josiah Monroe 

Graves of Colonel Stacey and Captain Rogers 
unknown 
*Not marked 



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